Charismatic Candidate Propels German Far-Right Party to Victory After Giving It a Friendly Face
Siegmund’s populist style and social media reach helped AfD win 44% of the vote, but the party still fell short of a majority.
- On Sunday, Sept. 6, 2026, the Alternative for Germany party led by Ulrich Siegmund achieved a historic victory in the Saxony-Anhalt regional election, though the party fell just short of securing a parliamentary majority.
- Siegmund, a 35-year-old lawmaker in Magdeburg for 10 years, cultivated a friendly public image for the AfD while the party maintained radical pro-Russian and anti-immigration positions.
- Wolfgang Merkel of the WBZ Berlin Social Science Center said Siegmund "manages to come over as likable, open, always smiling," yet Siegmund attended a 2023 Potsdam meeting where participants discussed "Remigration" blueprints.
- State governor Sven Schulze questioned Siegmund's ties to "very extreme people," while the AfD candidate insists the party will not "throw our positions overboard for coalitions."
- Appealing to voters' nostalgia for East Germany via campaign rides on Simson mopeds, Siegmund asserts that "every honest person in Saxony-Anhalt will benefit" from an AfD-led government.
62 Articles
62 Articles
Far right wins big in German state election
The far-right Alternative for Germany party, or AfD, has won its biggest success yet after claiming victory in the election for the Saxony-Anhalt regional assembly, but now faces the challenge of how to form a local government after failing to secure an outright majority.
The party barely survived the blockade. Now it has become kingmaker in the state of Saxony-Anhalt.
How charismatic victory of German far-right party AfD is a warning to Europe
The AfD has secured a sweeping win in Saxony-Anhalt, finishing well ahead of Friedrich Merz's conservatives. The result has sharpened doubts about mainstream parties in Germany and across Europe.
Charismatic candidate propels German far-right party to victory after
Ulrich Siegmund, top candidate for the "Alternative for Germany" (AfD) party and his wife Julia leaving a polling station on a small Schwalbe motorcycle after voting during the Saxony-Anhalt state elections in Tangermuende, eastern Germany, Sunday, Sept. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)
The German far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party won a historic landslide victory in the state elections in Saxony-Anhalt, receiving around 44 percent of the vote. The results are a heavy blow to Chancellor Friedrich Merz and the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and could mark a turning point in German politics. At the forefront of the victory is 35-year-old Ulrich Siegmund, who has built up a huge following on social media and is no…
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